MORE than 100 years ago, the American missionary Arthur H Smith (1845-1932) wrote an influential book, "Chinese Characteristics".

The book and the opinions in it about an alleged Chinese disregard for accuracy inspired a response from Gu Hongming (1856-1928), an accomplished scholar in Chinese national culture. Gu concluded that the soul of the Chinese was indeed fine and sensitive and he vividly compared the Chinese soul with a writing brush.

"It is very difficult to write or paint with a writing brush and it seems hard to be accurate," Gu wrote. "However, once you master it well, you can use it with facility to create elegant painting and calligraphy. But hard Western pens can't deliver the same results."

Traditionally, the writing brush is regarded as one of the scholar' four jewels (the others are: ink stick, ink slab and paper).

Tortoise shells

From unearthed painted pottery made in the New Stone Age (6,000-3,000 BC), archaeologists have found animal designs and geometric lines. Only with tools such as a writing brush could these liquid and vivid designs have been made.

Archaeological discoveries from the Bronze Age (3,000-1,200 BC) also found that ancient Chinese calligraphers painted characters on tortoise shells. This shows that the appearance of writing brushes in China can be traced back to very early times.

General Mengtian in the Qin Dynasty (221-206 BC) helped establish the important status of the writing brush in Chinese national life.

It was said that at that time, writing brushes were mainly made of hollow branches with the brushes bound around the tips. When people wrote with brushes, however, they were too soft to be controlled.

Since General Meng had to read many urgent military dispatches every day, he finally improved the way of making brushes. Meng went to Huzhou, in East China's Zhejiang Province, which was abundant in bamboo. There, he fitted the tied brushes in the bamboo poles and changed hollow brushes into solid brushes. It was a great leap forward in the wider use of writing brushes.

During the Han Dynasty (206 BC-AD 220), Hanfu, a kind of descriptive prose, had reached full development. It was difficult to record the flood of scholars' words with brushes on wooden tablets and this, to some extent, accelerated the invention of paper in AD 105.

After the Han Dynasty, people became more particular about the design of writing brushes arising from the diversity of writing styles and the increasingly improved ways of making brushes. Great masters of calligraphy and traditional paintings emerged in large numbers.

Scholars showed their partiality for particular writing brushes and gave useful suggestions to brush-makers on how to improve their skills in making them.

The Hu Brush

What made the Hu Writing Brush the most prestigious all over China can be attributed to the small town of Shanlian in Huzhou. In the Ming (1368-1644) and Qing (1644-1911) dynasties, Shanlian had become the centre for writing brush production.

The legend goes that during the reign of the Emperor Qianlong (1736-95), a writing brush producer surnamed Wang from Shanlian always used to prepare a lot of elaborately made brushes in the years when the imperial examination were being held. He would go to Beijing with the examination candidates and one year, one of them, who had bought a writing brush from Wang, became the Number One Scholar.

This caused a great stir throughout the country and from then on, Hu Writing Brushes were favoured by all. They were even exported to neighbouring countries by Bi Fang (a kind of ship specializing in transporting writing brushes). The Bi Fang swayed slowly along the river to Suzhou, to Shanghai, then crossed the ocean to Japan, Korea and Southeast Asian countries.

Chinese culture carrier

The tradional way of making writing brushes can still be found today in many workshops. According to Zhang Xinyu, a retired worker who spent 41 years making writing brushes, it was the exquisite craftsmanship that established the reputation of Hu Writing Brush.

"From selecting goat, rabbit or weasel hair to the carving of characters, every process must be finished with care and precision. The tips of each writing brush need 72 working procedures," Zhang said.

Different kinds of writing brushes can be used to write characters in different styles. For instance, a writing brush made with goat hair has flexible features, while a writing brush with weasel hair has stiff characteristics.

Zhang recalled that in the 1990s, goat's hair writing brushes were in great demand in Japan."That is because the Japanese like to write regular script in small characters and this kind of brush is the best choice," Zhang said.

Despite the glorious history of the traditional Hu Writing Brush, it has had to confront the challenge posed by modern writing brush-making techniques. Furthermore, the craftsmen of the older generation are passing away. "The traditional skills of making the Hu Writing Brush have become a lost art," said Xu Aqiao, the director of the Hu Writing Brush Museum.

"Making brushes is a hard and unprofitable job. I know that young people are eager to find their ways in a more and more open world. But I really feel anxious about finding people to inherit this valuable culture and continue to make genuine Hu Writing Brushes."